English Theatre Of Hamburg Announces 35th Anniversary Season

THIS IS HOW IT GOESA Play by Neil LaBute; Premiere on 9 September, 2010. Belinda and Cody are a typical young American couple. Typical . . . except Cody is black and Belinda is white. All appears to be going well until she becomes attracted to a former classmate who is also white. As the men battle for her affections, the door is opened to a world of bigotry and betrayal that was apparently just below the surface all the time. In this gripping play, Neil LaBute, one of America's most exciting new playwrights, throws political correctness out the window as he deals with racial prejudice in white and black America today. The play is also about truth and the many versions of it that we offer up to different people. The author writes a very funny script without allowing us to forget that we are watching a drama.

DON'T MISUNDERSTAND MEA Comedy by Patrick Cargill; Premiere on 25 November, 2010. From its first performance in 1984, this light-hearted British comedy has been a favourite with audiences and critics alike. It concerns a middle-aged family man, Charles, who has had a brief affair in New York with an American girl. Back in England now, he believes he covered his tracks by not giving her his address or phone number. But she manages to find him anyway and appears one evening on his doorstep! Keeping her true identity from his wife, Margery, throws Charles and his brother (who aids in the deception) into a series of complications made worse by the arrival of the brother's wife. And, to complicate matters further, it appears that Margery herself is keeping a romantic secret.

MRS WARREN'S PROFESSIONA Play by Bernard Shaw; Premiere on 24 February, 2011. During a summer day in the English country-side, Vivie Warren, a young Cambridge graduate, learns that her mother is a madam in the oldest profession in the world. She is horrified. Her entire education and luxurious life-style have been financed by her mother's string of brothels on the Continent! Mrs Warren struggles to win her daughter's respect and love by describing the awful social and economic conditions of nineteenth-century England that forced her and other women into prostitution. But Vivie is not easily convinced. At the same time she must deal with two gentlemen in love with her, one in his twenties, the other in his fifties. This British classic, by one of the greatest playwrights in the English language, was banned from the London stage for its scandalous content when first produced in 1894. Today it is applauded for its critical view of the status of women in society.

ROSE'S DILEMMAA Comedy by Neil Simon; Premiere on 5 May, 2011. Rose Steiner needs to write another best-seller to stay out of the poor house. But she has been suffering from writer's block ever since her lover Walsh McLaren, also a famous author, passed away five years ago. To cope with her loss, Rose imagines that Walsh visits and talks to her every night. She even has passionate, noisy sex with him - to the great embarrassment of her daughter who lives with Rose. Now, Walsh says, it is time for him to leave her forever. But, before he goes, he wants to secure Rose's financial future. He suggests (or is this Rose's imagination?) that she complete the writing of his last unfinished novel with the help of a young writer living nearby. Rose's daughter also tries to help but complicates The Situation by falling in love with the charming young man. This sensitive and witty play is Neil Simon's most recent Broadway hit.

As you may have read in the press, the private theatres must raise their ticket prices in order to survive. The English Theatre Of Hamburg will raise tickets prices only slightly. The good news is that the subscription prices will remain the same. This means that subscribers can now see four plays for even less than the price of three. It makes sense for you to subscribe and it is beneficial to the theatre because subscribers assure us of a certain amount of dependable income. You can subscribe to the next season online by going to www.englishtheatre.de or you can phone the box office (040-227 7089). - Clifford Dean and Robert Rumpf